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Showing results for tags 'Whistleblowing'.
Found 317 results
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News Article
Whistleblowing surgeon quits profession over fear of being “hunted” by NHS
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A campaigning whistleblowing surgeon who wrote two books about his experiences has decided to leave the medical profession out of fear that he is being “hunted” by the NHS. Peter Duffy, a consultant urologist, is quitting work several years earlier than planned and intends to remove his name from the medical register. After a two year investigation the General Medical Council has decided to take no action against him. But he told The BMJ that he is worried that, after several investigations into his conduct, he remains vulnerable as long as he stays on the register. Duffy, 61, who blew the whistle on patient safety issues at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust’s urology department, left the NHS nearly seven years ago. He claimed he was forced to resign from the trust for his own protection and won a claim for unfair constructive dismissal in 2018, when the trust was ordered to pay him £102 000 in compensation. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 12 June 2023 -
News ArticlePolice are investigating about 40 hospital deaths over allegations of medical negligence made by two consultant surgeons who lost their jobs after blowing the whistle about patient safety. The allegedly botched operations took place at Royal Sussex County hospital (RSCH) in Brighton, part of University hospital Sussex NHS trust, when it was run by a management team hailed by Jeremy Hunt as the best in the NHS. Last week, detectives from Sussex police wrote to the trust’s chief executive, George Findlay, confirming they had launched a formal investigation into “a number of deaths” at the RSCH. They were investigating allegations of “criminal culpability through medical negligence” made by “two separate clinical consultants” at the trust, the letter said. It is understood about 40 deaths occurred between 2015 and 2020 after alleged errors in general surgery and neurosurgery departments. Both whistleblowers alleged the trust failed to properly investigate the deaths and learn from the mistakes made. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 June 2023
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News Article
East Kent: A decade of failure in maternity care
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
After health inspectors considered closing a maternity unit over safety fears, the BBC's Michael Buchanan looks at a near-decade of poor care at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust. "I've been telling you for months. The place is getting worse." The message in February, which Michael received from a member of the maternity team, was stark but unsurprising. In a series of texts over the previous few months, the person had been getting increasingly concerned about what was happening at the East Kent trust. The leadership is "totally ineffective" read one message. "How long do we have to keep hearing this narrative - we accept bad things happened, we have learned and are putting it right. Nothing changes." Friday's report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is unfortunately just the latest marker in a near-decade of failure to improve maternity care at the trust. The revelation that inspectors considered closing the unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford comes nine years after the trust's head of midwifery made a similar recommendation for the same reasons - that it was a danger to women and babies. The failure to act decisively then allowed many poor practices to continue. Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 May 2023 -
News Article
Trust execs accused of creating a ‘cult of the individual’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Regulators are probing a series of whistleblowing claims about the leadership culture of a trust which is rated ‘outstanding’ for its management, HSJ has learned. It is understood multiple current and former staff members at Bolton Foundation Trust, including people in senior positions, have been in contact with NHS England and the Care Quality Commission in recent months. The claims include a dramatic worsening in leadership culture at the trust, particularly around the FTSU process and people who speak up being bullied, side-lined and silenced. And investigations and meetings are stage-managed and tightly controlled by executives, with constant “sugar-coating” and positive spin on board reports, and intolerance of people who disagree. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 May 2023 -
News Article
World-renowned NHS centre downgraded by watchdog
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A world-renowned cancer centre hit by whistleblowing concerns over alleged bullying has been downgraded by the health watchdog. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) told The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester it "requires improvement" in safety and leadership. A former trust nurse told the BBC leaders had intimidated staff to stop them voicing concerns to inspectors. Rebecca Wight worked at The Christie - Europe's largest cancer centre - from 2014 but quit her role as an advanced nurse practitioner in December, claiming her whistleblowing attempts had been ignored. She told BBC Newsnight the trust had attempted to manipulate the inspection by intimidating those who wished to paint an honest picture. Roger Kline, an NHS workforce and culture expert from Middlesex University Business School, told BBC Newsnight there was a culture at The Christie which was "unwelcoming of people raising concerns". He said: "The trust response is more likely... to see the person raising the concerns as the problem rather than the issues they have raised," adding this was "not good for patient care". Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2023 -
News Article
Hospital boss claims unfair dismissal after chairman 'bullied' her
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A former NHS chief executive is suing her employer, saying she was "bullied, harassed, intimidated and undermined" by the hospital trust's chairman. In legal papers, seen by BBC News, Dr Susan Gilby alleges she was effectively unfairly dismissed by the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust, after she made a formal complaint. Dr Gilby claims the chairman was "highly aggressive and intimidatory" in meetings, that he banged his hand on a desk to emphasise his point, and oversaw a climate where "offensively sexist comments and ferocious and repetitive criticisms" were made by either him or his associates. Dr Gilby's complaint accuses the chairman of putting finance above patient safety at the hospital trust She made a formal whistle-blowing complaint against the chairman in July 2022, raising her concerns about his behaviour to both the trust and NHS England. The trust responded to her concerns, Dr Gilby claims, by proposing that she be seconded to a senior advisory role within NHS England on the condition she withdrew her allegations. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2023 -
News Article
NHS managers covering up issues - whistleblower
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Managers at a medical rehabilitation unit are "covering it up" when issues are raised, a whistleblower has said. The whistleblower claimed Cambridge Rehabilitation Unit (CRU) management bullied staff who flagged concerns over shortages and unsafe practice. Documents detail claims of "dangerous" staffing levels, patients left in bed all day without therapy and a one-star food hygiene rating. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the BBC discovered three whistleblowing complaints were made to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) between May and August last year. The first said wards "run on dangerous levels of staff" and no action was taken when staff flagged concerns. The second stated there was "bullying occurring from management when staff raise concerns regarding short staffing and unsafe practice". They said: "When issues relating to patient safety are raised... management are 'covering it up'." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 May 2023 -
News Article
Whistleblower says career shattered by treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A former top medic on the Isle of Man who was unfairly dismissed has said her career has been "shattered" by her treatment. Rosalind Ranson was the Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) medical director from January 2020. She was awarded a record £3.19m in compensation after a lengthy tribunal which ruled she had been unfairly dismissed for whistleblowing. Dr Ranson raised a number of serious concerns about the coronavirus advice on the island that was not being passed on to ministers. She was later marginalised before being dismissed as the island's top medic when the operational services of DHSC transitioned into Manx Care. Dr Ranson said: "For me it is a tragedy that my 35-year career in medicine has come to an end through these circumstances. "I was proud of my professional integrity, my resilience, and my strength to stand up for those that I protected through my work as a doctor." Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 May 2023 -
News Article
Priory Group whistleblowers 'concerned for patient safety'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two former senior managers at a large mental healthcare provider have told the BBC they had concerns about the safety of patients and staff. The whistleblowers claim they felt pressure to cut costs and fill beds. The Priory Group, which receives more than £600m of public money each year, is the biggest single private provider of mental health services to the NHS. The company denies the claims and says it successfully treats tens of thousands of patients each year. It adds its services "remain amongst the safest in the UK". The former members of the Priory Group's senior management said that, when they were working for the company, they found it difficult to recruit or retain staff, due to poor pay and conditions. They believe this resulted in patients being placed on wards that did not have staff equipped with the right skills to handle their conditions. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 April 2023 -
News ArticlePatients were left on trolleys for up to four days at a major NHS hospital where whistleblowers raised concerns over “unsafe” staffing levels, it has emerged. In a scathing report, the NHS safety watchdog said it found patients waiting on trolleys, in corridors and outside nursing bays at Good Hope and Heartlands hospital, run by the scandal-hit University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. In one incident flagged by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a patient’s skin ulcers had grown significantly worse while they waited for four days on a trolley without an appropriate mattress. At the time of the inspection, most patients had been waiting for more than two days on trolleys, according to the CQC. The inspection took place in December, after concerns were raised by patients and families over care. The CQC said staff told inspectors they’d been left in “unsafe situations” due to poor staffing. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 April 2023
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News Article
Medic blames NHS Highland 'dysfunction' for doctor exodus
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A top doctor has blamed a "dysfunctional" culture at NHS Highland for a crisis in medical recruitment and retention engulfing its rural hospitals. Dr Gordon Caldwell, a consultant physician who was the clinical lead at Lorn and Islands hospital in Oban until he resigned last summer, said there "still seems to be a lot of fear" among staff more than four years on from a bullying scandal that cost the health board nearly £3 million in settlements. Dr Caldwell - who joined NHS Highland in 2018 - said an exodus of senior consultants from Oban and Fort William over the past 18 months is down to management "undermining us, bullying us, and blaming us for problems that were due to a lack of leadership". The 66-year-old, who is internationally regarded for his expertise in medical education, became so concerned about the impact on junior doctor training in Oban that he whistleblew to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) while on sick leave for stress after finding his own internal complaints rebuffed. A resulting inspection report, published in May last year, said NES had "serious concerns about the training environment" at Lorn and Islands hospital, including around the "safety of care". Read full story Source: The Herald, 1 April 2023 -
News Article
‘He tarnished my reputation’: whistleblower demands action against CQC accuser
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A former adviser for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has called on the regulator to explain what action it has taken against the officials responsible for wrongly dismissing him after he raised whistleblowing concerns. Shyam Kumar, a surgeon who was part of inspection teams in the North West, told HSJ that he had to live with question marks over his reputation for several years. He is furious that a senior CQC official sought to question his honesty and integrity in evidence submitted to the employment tribunal examing his dismisal. The tribunal heard Mr Kumar had raised a number of whistleblowing disclosures to the CQC, including concerns about the lack of appropriate expertise on inspection teams. After a wide-ranging review around its handling of whistleblowing concerns, CQC chief executive Ian Trenholm last week apologised to Mr Kumar for “unacceptably poor treatment” by his organisation, and thanked him for contributing to the review. However, Mr Kumar told HSJ: “I’m glad the CQC has looked at this and finally acknowledged what they did to me was wrong. But I want to know what has happened to the individuals that were responsible.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 April 2023 -
News ArticleA law firm that routinely advises health service bosses faces claims it withheld evidence in a landmark NHS whistleblowing case. A judge has called for full evidence disclosure to assess claims that healthcare specialist firm Hill Dickinson acted fraudulently in a dispute over a lack of legal protection for NHS doctors in whistleblowing claims. The firm will now have to account for its actions in litigation that saw more than 50,000 doctors below consultant level in England deprived of legal whistleblowing protections, according to the junior medic at the centre of it, Chris Day. The case also had implications for 865,000 agency workers across other sectors – including construction. Read full story Source: ByLine Times, 9 February 2023
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News Article
Government reviews whistleblowing laws
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A review of the whistleblowing framework – the laws that support workers who blow the whistle on wrongdoing in the workplace – has been launched by the Government. The review will seek views and evidence from whistleblowers, key charities, employers and regulators. Whistleblowing refers to when a worker makes a disclosure of information which they reasonably believe shows wrongdoing or someone covering up wrongdoing. Workers who blow the whistle are entitled to protections, which were introduced through the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA). Successive governments have taken steps to strengthen whistleblowing policy and practice. It provides a route for employees to report unsafe working conditions and wrongdoing across all sectors. This was keenly felt during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, when the Care Quality Commission and Health and Safety Executive recorded sharp increases in the number of whistleblowing disclosures they received. The review will gather evidence on the effectiveness of the current regime in enabling workers to speak up about wrongdoing and protect those who do so. The evidence gathering stage of the review will conclude in Autumn 2023. Read full press release Source: Gov.UK, 27 March 2023 -
News Article
Whistleblowers ‘frustrated and disappointed’ by CQC, review finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Care Quality Commission’s follow-up of whistleblowing concerns from health and care staff has been poor and inconsistent, and there is a “widespread lack of competence and confidence” on dealing with race and racism at the organisation, two reviews have found. A “Listening, learning, responding to concerns” review was published by the Care Quality Commission, alongside a linked independent review into how the regulator failed Shyam Kumar, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the North West, who was also a CQC specialist professional adviser. The wider review looked at a range of issues including how the CQC deals with racism; how well it listens to whistleblowers in providers; and how it deals with its own staff, including as part of a recent restructure, and its internal “Freedom to Speak Up” process. It followed concerns bring raised, in addition to Mr Kumar’s case, about these issues. Scott Durairaj, a CQC director who joined it last year and led the review work along with a panel of advisers, reported there was “clear evidence, during the scoping, design phase and throughout the review, of a widespread lack of competence and confidence within CQC in understanding, identifying and writing about race and racism”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 March 2023 -
News Article
Hull A&E is a 'death trap', whistleblowers warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Whistleblowers have described the accident and emergency (A&E) department at Hull Royal Infirmary as "incredibly dangerous" and a "death trap". The Care Quality Commission (CSC) found Hull University Teaching Hospitals required improvement overall and its A&E department was rated inadequate. Two clinical staff members, who wished to remain anonymous, described it as a "toxic" place to work. Speaking to the BBC, the two staff members who have worked in Hull's A&E department said they had raised concerns with senior managers and the CQC. They said there were frequently fewer staff than needed and warned inexperienced staff, one whom had never seen a cardiac arrest, were working in areas like resuscitation, which was "incredibly dangerous". "Nurses who aren't even signed off to give oral medication are being put in resuscitation," one said. "It's a death trap, it is terrifying." Despite these concerns, CQC inspectors in December and November did find the service "had enough nursing and support staff to keep patients safe". Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 March 2023 -
News ArticleA scandal-hit hospital group has been sanctioned by inspectors after The Independent revealed “systemic abuse” at a string of children’s mental health units. England’s safety watchdog issued an official warning to Ivetsey Bank Hospital in Staffordshire, run by The Huntercombe Group, after an extensive investigation by this newspaper found the private hospital had put the safety of young mental health patients at risk. The Care Quality Commission also downgraded the hospital’s rating to “inadequate”. If improvements are not made in line with the warning notice, the hospital could be forced to close. An inspection was carried out two weeks after The Independent revealed widespread allegations of abuse and excessive restraint across The Huntercombe Group’s hospitals. The investigation revealed the provider, which also runs Taplow Manor children’s hospital in Maidenhead, was facing allegations from more than 50 former patients as well as claims of poor care from staff whistleblowers and dozens of negligence claims. Read full Source: The Independent, 15 March 2023
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Content Article
When patients are left to blow the whistle on unsafe care
Steve Turner posted an article in Whistle blowing
This short blog highlights the situations where patients, carers, parents and relatives are failed by healthcare systems and by the leadership. They are left to stand alone against powerful institutions, because when staff speak up and 'blow the whistle' it often results in retaliation. Investigating and resolving the patient safety issue then becomes buried under an employment issue. -
Content ArticleThe only NHS service in England to offer gender identity services to children announced it would be closing down last year - after years of whistleblowers who worked there trying to raise the alarm about a scandal in their midst: a failure to safeguard some of the country's most vulnerable young adults. What went wrong? And how much did the toxic political climate at the time over trans issues contribute to a work practice that was not fit for purpose. Investigative reporter Hannah Barnes reflects her years spent talking to those involved - the staff, the families and most importantly, the children themselves.
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Content ArticleThe National Guardian's Office and the role of the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian were created in response to recommendations made in Sir Robert Francis QC’s 2015 report The Freedom to Speak Up. The office leads, trains and supports a network of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in England and conducts speaking up reviews to identify learning and support improvement of the speaking up culture of the healthcare sector. This annual report shares intelligence and learning collated by the National Guardian’s Office, including data about the cases Freedom to Speak Up Guardians receive. Over 20,000 speaking up cases were brought last year, meaning cases remain at the record level set in 2020/21. The report also features case studies from different healthcare providers across England, sharing the experiences of people who have spoken up about a wide range of issues, and demonstrating the ways in which organisations have improved staff confidence in being able to speak up.
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Content ArticleIn December 2022, the All Party Parliamentary (APPG) for Whistleblowing heard evidence on the state of the NHS following the recent report on the avoidable deaths and life changing injuries caused to mothers and babies at the East Kent Trust. The culture at this hospital was described as one where “everyone knew the problems” and where whistleblowers were “thrown to the lions”. A culture attributed to 45 of the 65 baby deaths reviewed. This blog first appeared on the Whistleblowers UK website in December 2022.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, journalist David Hencke shares his views on the ruling of Judge Anne Martin in the case of NHS whistleblower Dr Chris Day. He argues that Judge Martin was determined to find in favour of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, glossing over the disclosure of the deliberate destruction of 90,000 emails and the use of false evidence by the Trust. She discredited the evidence of Dr Day’s witnesses, including the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt and two senior medical experts, on the basis that they were biased.
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News ArticleChildren say they were "treated like animals" and left traumatised as part of a decade of “systemic abuse” by a group of mental health hospitals, an investigation by The Independent and Sky News has found. The Department of Health and Social Care has now launched a probe into the allegations of 22 young women who were patients in units run by The Huntercombe Group, which has run at least six children’s mental health hospitals, between 2012 and this year. They say they suffered treatment including the use of “painful” restraints and being held down for hours by male nurses, being stopped from going outside for months and living in wards with blood-stained walls. They also allege they were given so much medication they had become “zombies” and were force-fed. But despite reports to police and regulators dating back seven years, and findings by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that the units were inadequate, the NHS has still handed Huntercombe nearly £190m since 2015-16 to admit children to its mental health beds. Through witness testimony, documents obtained by Freedom of Information request and leaked reports, the investigation has uncovered: The CQC has received more than 700 whistleblowing and safeguarding reports, including “incidents of concern” and several “sexual safety” concerns. NHS England was notified of 195 safeguarding reports between 2020 and 2021. A 2018 internal report at Meadow Lodge hospital in Newton Abbot (now closed) found staff members using sexually inappropriate language in front of patients. 160 reports investigated by Staffordshire police about Huntercombe Staffordshire between 2015 and 2022. Between March 2021 and 2022, the CQC gave permission for 29 patients to be admitted to Maidenhead hospital after it was placed in special measures. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 October 2022
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News Article
Leadership review launched at ‘outstanding’ trust
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Care Quality Commission has launched a review of leadership at an “outstanding”-rated specialist trust, after receiving multiple concerns from whistleblowers. The regulator is understood to have made an unannounced visit to The Christie Foundation Trust within the last week to inspect its medical services. The review will also cover the trust’s overall leadership. HSJ understands the review is, at least, partly in response to the regulator receiving a number of concerns from whistleblowers about the trust’s leadership culture and behaviour of senior staff. It comes after the trust came under scrutiny from NHS England last year, with independent reviews finding there had been multiple failings around the handling of a major research project. The reviews also criticised the trust’s reaction to staff who had raised concerns, but failed to answer a key accusation that was made about the detriment suffered by whistleblowers. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 October 2022 -
News ArticlePeter Duffy warned that there is a growing risk of electronic patient records and NHS staff communications being exposed to tampering efforts in disputes with managers and executives. The surgeon, who now practices on the Isle of Man, made the comments during talks given in September – to the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) and at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) in Dublin. He told audiences that “there is increasing potential for electronic tampering” of NHS IT records, holding serious implications for patient safety reporting and disputes with government and health service bodies. The consultant medic, who says he was driven out of UHMBT in 2016 after blowing the whistle on dangerous practices and uninvestigated cases of harm within the trust’s urology services, won a constructive dismissal claim against his ex-employer in 2018. Duffy now alleges that emails concerning the care of a patient at the centre of his whistleblowing were forged and backdated by senior UHMBT staff, several years after his employment claim against the trust had ended. The emails were not disclosed during the tribunal – despite a court order having been issued to release all communications concerning the care of the patient in question, the late Peter Read, who died in early 2015 – and are understood to have surfaced during the course of an external review into UHMBT’s urology services carried out between late 2019 and 2021. Niche Consult, a private firm commissioned by NHS England/Improvement (NHSE/I) to investigate Duffy’s patient safety disclosures alongside broader concerns regarding the trust’s urology department, determined that the emails in question were not fakes. Duffy told the AfPP and RCSI audiences that, during the Niche review of UHMBT’s urology services in 2020, he was “abruptly told that two entirely new, never-seen-before emails had suddenly, unexpectedly appeared”. The emails appear to partly implicate him in the series of clinical errors and missed care opportunities that contributed to Read’s death. Duffy described the allegedly falsified emails as being part of “an executive vendetta” waged against him in retaliation for his whistleblowing activity and negative publicity surrounding it, as UHMBT was seeking to cultivate the image of a “turnaround” trust in the years following a major maternity scandal between 2004 and 2013. Read full story Source: Computer Weekly, 28 September 2022
